Road risk in Medway
Medway ranks 65 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.
Police recorded 460 injury collisions in Medway in 2025, hurting 570 people, of whom 121 were killed or seriously injured and 4 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 137.6 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 71% above the median ranked authority (80.5).
- Collisions
- 460 in 2025
- People hurt
- 570 casualties
- Killed or seriously injured
- 121
- Killed
- 4
- KSI per billion vehicle miles
- 137.6 (median 80.5)
- KSI, three-year average
- 115.7 a year
- Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025
- 133 (recorded: 121)
- Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average
- 124.7 a year (recorded: 115.7)
- KSI per 100,000 residents
- 41.3 — rank 72
- Population
- 292,697
- Risk score
- 58.5/100 — rank 65 of 192
Compiled by Stephen Hall, Data lead, Swift Assist. Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT road traffic estimates (2025), OGL v3. Updated 2026-10-08.
Five years of collisions in Medway
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 9.8%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 526 collisions.
Collisions per year in Medway
2025: 460 (up 3.1% on the year before) · peak 526 in 2022 · -9.8% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Medway
These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 460 collisions in Medway, the three groups appear 231 times between them — an involvement rate of 50.2%.
| Road user | Collisions | Share of all collisions |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 119 | 25.9% |
| Cyclists | 42 | 9.1% |
| Motorcyclists | 70 | 15.2% |
A single collision can involve more than one of these groups and is then counted in each row, so the rows do not add up to a share of the total.
When collisions happen in Medway
DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Medway’s own shares over 1,430 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.
| Share of collisions | Medway | National | How it reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit. | 24.7% | 28.7% | below the national figure |
| In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one. | 1.9% | 6.3% | a small fraction of the national figure |
| On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene. | 17.6% | 24.5% | below the national figure |
| On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities. | 0.4% | 1.4% | a small fraction of the national figure |
On the darkness share, Medway ranks 165 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.
The winter effect. Collisions in Medway run 15.3% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 326 collisions against 385.
What this does not tell you
- A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Medway’s collisions — not that its roads are more dangerous overall. Read it alongside the casualties-per-mile-driven figure above.
- Condition is recorded, not tested. The officer records the surface and light level at the scene. It is an observation, not a measurement, and it is not a finding that the condition caused the collision.
- Exposure is not controlled for. Fewer people travel at 3am than at 3pm, so a collision in darkness is drawn from a smaller pool of journeys. Without hourly traffic counts, these shares describe when collisions happen rather than how risky an hour is.
Every authority compared on the same measures: winter road risk across Britain.
Medway against similar authorities
A national rank compares Medway with places that may be nothing like it. This is the comparison a council actually uses: its statistical nearest neighbours — the authorities ONS identifies as most similar on population, economy and demography, restricted to the same tier, so counties are compared with counties. Within this group Medway is 2 of 6 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 90.8.
| Authority | KSI / bn miles | Score | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southend-on-Sea | 200.4 | 82.8 | 1 |
| Medway (this page) | 137.6 | 58.5 | 65 |
| Bexley | 123 | 53 | 84 |
| Stockport | 58.6 | 37.3 | 153 |
| Thurrock | 56.7 | 26.6 | 181 |
| West Northamptonshire | 37.5 | 33.3 | 164 |
Peer group: ONS statistical nearest neighbours, Open Government Licence v3. ONS notes the grouping is a snapshot that is not comparable with earlier editions, and is not a judgement about any authority’s performance. The road figures against it are ours.
Medway against its closest comparators
Medway sits 65 of 192 nationally, and 58 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.
| # | Authority | Score | KSI / bn miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | East Sussex | 59 | 140.2 |
| 64 | Torfaen | 58.9 | 89.3 |
| 65 | Medway (this page) | 58.5 | 137.6 |
| 66 | Torbay | 58.1 | 97.1 |
| 67 | Redbridge | 58 | 135.1 |
Road risk in Medway, answered
How dangerous are the roads in Medway?
In the latest official DfT figures, 460 road collisions in Medway injured or killed 570 people, 121 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 137.6 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Medway 65 of 192 authorities on our combined score, where 1 is the highest risk. The score weighs that rate alongside who is being hurt, the five-year trend and how often a serious collision proves fatal, so the rank is not the rate alone.
Are road casualties in Medway rising or falling?
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Medway were down 9.8%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 526 collisions. Year-to-year movement in a single authority is noisy, so the five-year direction carries more than any single year's change.
Who is being hurt on Medway's roads?
In Medway there were 119 collisions involving pedestrians, 42 involving cyclists and 70 involving motorcyclists, out of 460 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 50.2%, though a collision involving two of those groups is counted in both figures, so it is a comparable index rather than a clean share.
Who is responsible for road safety in Medway?
Medway is a unitary authority, and is the highway authority for its own roads. That means it sets local speed limits, designs junctions and crossings, and decides safety scheme spending. Motorways and most trunk roads are managed separately by National Highways in England, Transport Scotland, or the Welsh Government, so the worst road in an area is often not the council's to change. Enforcement sits with the local police force.
Where does this data come from?
DfT STATS19, the record police complete at the scene of every injury collision, published annually under the Open Government Licence, combined with DfT's own road traffic estimates for the mileage denominator. Collision, casualty and KSI counts on this page are for 2025; only the trend compares 2021–2025. STATS19 counts collisions police attended and recorded, so collisions never reported do not appear, and under-reporting is known to be worst for cyclists and for slight injuries.
What actually changes the odds in Medway
Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Medway’s own figures above, each with the number that prompted it. Every guide explains how the thing works before it suggests buying anything, and most cost less than a third of a typical insurance excess.
Alarmed disc lock
£20–£50
Motorcyclists are in 15% of Medway's collisions, and bikes are also lifted rather than ridden away. An alarmed disc lock covers the theft half for about £30.
How it works →
Dashcam (parking mode)
£50–£150
26% of collisions here involve a pedestrian, and those are the cases most often argued over. Footage removes the argument.
How it works →
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More on Medway and UK road risk
Where collisions cluster in Medway
The interactive hotspot map, down to individual junctions.
Read more →All 192 British authorities ranked
The full sortable league table, with the method behind it.
Read more →Blackspots that were never fixed
Sites with injury collisions in every one of the last five years.
Read more →UK road risk: the national picture
What the official record says about Britain's roads overall.
Read more →Need this cut differently?
Custom analysis by ward, corridor or junction. Free for campaigns and press.
Read more →Free API
Pull these figures programmatically, with provenance on every endpoint.
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